


Quaint and Curious Volumes

by Kadorienne



Series: Silver Tongue, Golden Lasso [5]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Pseudo-Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-14
Updated: 2013-10-14
Packaged: 2017-12-29 09:26:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1003744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kadorienne/pseuds/Kadorienne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki acquires an ancient book of dark magic.</p>
<p>(It's fluff, really.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Quaint and Curious Volumes

Thor checked one more time to be certain Loki was busy in his basement laboratory before creeping into his brother's library. He would never be able to come up with any excuse for being there if Loki caught him.

He had tried to explain to Fury that knowing what Loki was reading would do SHIELD no good. Loki read _everything_. When he travelled, he would pounce upon whatever books happened to be handy. If they were not to his taste he would wax sarcastic about them, disparaging the author's taste or intelligence, but continue reading anyway. Thor had never understood that hunger for the printed word, but Loki was not the only person in the Nine Realms so afflicted.

Thor took out the tiny camera Fury had given him, disguised as a pen, and took photos of the shelves. From quick glances at the titles, he guessed that there were sections devoted to history, magic, fiction, and sundry other subjects. Cooking. Mythology. Poetry. Science. There was scarcely a subject left uncovered.

He had _told_ Fury it wouldn't be useful.

Thor then went out for a run. He preferred more social methods of exercising, but Loki had wanted to tend to his experiments here and Thor was unwilling to be separated from him for long, and so he had accompanied him to Peru.

Thor had just returned and was in the kitchen gulping down water when his brother emerged from the basement. Loki threw him a glance of amused tolerance, letting his gaze linger on Thor's bare legs for a second as he moved to his library. "I've almost finished here, if you can entertain yourself a bit longer we can go back to New York this evening. I just have to-" Loki stopped abruptly at the library door.

Thor went to the sink for more water to give himself an excuse to turn away. He would never be able to hide his nervousness from Loki if he let him see his face. He had been so careful not to disturb anything in the library, but now he was frantically wondering if somehow he had disarranged something without realizing it, and worrying about what he was going to say to explain what he had been doing in the library. There was no innocent reason for him to be in there, and besides, he hadn't been able to pass a lie off on Loki since they were children. 

Loki stood in the doorway for a long moment, looking thoughtful. Suddenly he gave a little smile. "Oh, I am sorry. I just recalled that I'm expecting an important delivery tomorrow. So I'm afraid you'll be stuck here for another day."

Relieved, Thor set down his glass and went to him. "I don't mind being stuck with you," he said, resting his hands on Loki's hips.

Loki met his eyes with a familiar flirtatious expression. "You need a shower, you barbarian."

"Join me, then. You probably have bits of lead and gold all over you."

"No, but I did get some eye of newt in my hair."

Thor was pretty sure that was a joke even though he didn't get the point of it, as Loki's hair looked shiny and neat with no newt eyes or anything else in it. That didn't stop Thor from massaging shampoo into it thoroughly in the shower, before they both rinsed off and coupled with Loki pressed to the wall and the hot water pounding against Thor's back.

Later, when Thor was pleasantly tired and not interested in moving, Loki murmured that he had to take care of something and went downstairs for a bit. Before long he had returned, quietly cheerful, and coaxed Thor to activity again.

The following morning a deliveryman came with a small parcel. Loki pounced on it and gripped it tightly as he carried it to the library. Thor followed him and watched as Loki set it down on his desk and cut the box open carefully, his face intent.

It was a book. Just one more book, an old one, thick and with yellowed pages which Loki turned with reverence.

"What's so important about this book?" Thor asked. Loki gave a start, as if he had forgotten Thor was there.

"Oh, nothing," Loki said, though the tension of his fingers as he closed the book belied his words. "Only that it is quite rare. It's taken me a while to find a copy whose owner was willing to sell it." Loki stood looking down at the book for a moment, holding it tightly as if it might get away. After a second he gave himself a little shake. "Let me get my things together and we can go back to New York now." As Loki carelessly dropped the box into the wastebasket, Thor glimpsed the flutter of a white paper in it. 

Thor waited until Loki had swept upstairs, with the book clutched to his chest, before going to retrieve the paper. As he had hoped, it was a receipt that bore the name and author of the book, as well as the price - very high - and the name of the seller, with a New York address. He tucked the paper carefully into his pocket before going to collect his own things.

As soon as they reached the Avengers Tower, Loki shut himself up in his room. When Thor eventually knocked and asked what he was doing, Loki replied that he was reading and wanted to be left alone for a bit. Loki always had needed time on his own, but his preoccupation when he wandered out for dinner was not normal. Usually Loki paid careful attention to the people around him, waiting to see if they were going to do something unpleasant to him, cataloguing their every word and gesture to divine their vulnerable spots, watching for someone to do something amusing so he could sit back and laugh up his sleeve at them. This kind of abstraction on Loki's part was not without precedent, but it was unusual. Loki seemed not to hear even when he was addressed directly, and when Thor touched his hand to get his attention he would give a little jump, and whatever had been said to him would have to be repeated, and Loki would make only the briefest possible reply. As soon as he had finished eating he went back to their floor and shut himself away again.

"What's with little brother?" Tony asked as soon as Loki was gone.

"Apparently the book he just bought is of great interest."

"Is he always like this when he's reading a good book?"

"Occasionally." Thor poked his fingers into his pocket to make sure the receipt that had come with the book was still there. He would show it to Fury first thing in the morning. He hoped it was only an absorbing book, but there was always the fear that a sharp increase in magical power could warp Loki's mind again and lure him back into evil.

When Thor went back to his floor, Loki was shut in his room again. Thor knocked, and Loki shouted to him to go away. When Thor refused, the door opened reluctantly, propelled by seiðr. Loki was sitting curled on his bed, leaning into that book as if he were going to literally dive into its pages.

"Loki, you're worrying me. What is this book about?"

Loki looked up, blinking. "It's only magic, Thor."

"You've read other magic books. You don't always act like this over them."

"Like what?" Loki sounded genuinely baffled. And still sort of dazed.

"Like the book has a spell on you."

Loki gazed at him for a moment, then seemed to collect himself. "Oh. I am sorry. I didn't mean to neglect you, brother." He rose and carefully locked the book in the large chest where he kept magical items. Thor knew that the chest was sealed by magic as well as by a physical lock. Not that Thor would have snooped; a lifetime spent around magic had taught him not to meddle with it. 

With the infernal book safely stowed away, Loki proceeded to give Thor his undivided attention for the rest of the evening. By the time Thor fell asleep, his worries had melted away. 

But in the middle of the night, something woke him. He opened his eyes and saw Loki sitting cross-legged on the floor, the book open in his lap and light spilling from his hands, creating an array of strange runes and patterns that hung in midair, filling the room like the projections of Tony Stark's computers. The runes and symbols changed as he watched, and Loki watched as if entranced. Gradually, a sound arose, as if dozens of people were whispering in some foreign tongue.

Thor sat up. "Loki! What is this?"

Loki jerked his head to him. "Nothing, dear brother. Go back to sleep." A movement of those slender fingers and Thor was asleep again.

The next morning Loki acted as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred, except that he seemed a bit more smug than usual. When Thor asked about the previous night's display, Loki assured him tranquilly that he must have dreamed it. Thor tried to argue, but Loki had duties of his own, now that he had accepted Fury's treaty. When the Son of Coul had told Fury what Loki's violet crystal could do, Fury's underlings had set about contacting everyone they could find who had been injured by Loki's exploits and sending Loki to treat them with his magic, if they were willing to accept the offer. They had a full roster for Loki that day. It wasn't a pleasant duty - frequently the patients took the opportunity to tell Loki exactly what they thought of him, and he would listen silently, with resignation, as he worked his magic. He had only complained of this once in Thor's hearing, when he remarked sourly, "No one ever dared say things like that to me when I was one of the bad guys."

No sooner had Loki departed than Thor went to SHIELD headquarters. Thor first handed over the camera disguised as a pen, and then unfolded the receipt, telling the story of Loki's odd behavior since receiving it.

Fury scowled at the receipt. " _The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows_ by Aristide Torchia? We'll ask Dr. Strange or Dr. Fate about it. But first I'll send someone to talk to the bookseller, see if he knows anything. I'll call you later."

Thor had just gotten back to the Tower when Fury's call came. "We really pissed off that bookseller." 

"Why?"

"Not only has he never sold a book to anybody in Peru, it turns out _The Nine Gates_ isn't a real book. Not even from legend. It was made up a few years ago for a novel that was made into a cheesy movie called _The Ninth Gate_. The book dude was very sarcastic about it. The receipt was a forgery. Your brother pranked us. Again."

"I will... speak to him. Thank you, Director Fury."

Thor pushed the button to end the call and went to find Tony.

 

Two days later - two days of Loki continuing to wander around the Tower as if he were in a trance when he wasn't bent over the supposed _Nine Gates_ muttering to himself - Thor succeeded in dragging his brother out with the timeworn excuse that he needed to get away from his books and into the fresh air. "Fresh air? In New York?" Loki had snorted, but let himself be steered outside anyhow. Normally Loki would have demanded to know where they were going and why, but just now he was too preoccupied with behaving as if he were preoccupied.

Thus it was a simple matter for Thor to take his brother down the street Tony had designated, and to the store in question. "Oh, look, a store that sells those 'book' things you like," Thor teased, catching Loki's elbow and pulling him through the door.

Loki naturally made no resistance, the haze clearing a bit from his eyes as he surveyed the place. Books never did fail to spark his interest.

It was only a few seconds before Loki's gaze fell on the display. The book jackets were black with shiny red letters and a shining gold pentagram.

_The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows! Rumored to be co-authored by the Devil himself! A book so evil its author was burned at the stake! Even Hell has its heroes! Now in print again for the first time since 1666!_

Loki stared for a second before throwing his head back and laughing. A few other customers gave them wary looks but Loki ignored them. He took a copy and looked inside. "As I thought. Hegerty Publishing - a Stark subsidiary. This was his idea, was it not?"

"Yes. Mine was to have his computer make some illusions of demons demanding the book from you in the middle of the night, but I thought better of it."

Loki winced. "Good." He flipped through the book. "A reprint of the _Malleus Maleficarum_ , I see. I wonder if that was intended as a message."

Thor, who had never heard of it, shrugged. "You could have just told me you knew I had been snooping."

"Where would the fun in that be?" Loki went to one of the registers.

Thor followed him. "You're buying it? Even though you know it isn't real?"

"A memento."

Thor looked back to the display as Loki paid for his copy. Already a couple of employees were taking it down. Thor wondered what they had been told. But then, Midgardians asked few questions when Tony Stark told them to do things.

Thor tried to look like a properly disapproving big brother. "Fury was very angry. You mustn't waste his time with your tricks."

Loki smiled, very sweetly. "I have a splendid idea for what to do the next time he attempts to spy on me. Nothing lethal, I promise. Do tell him to go ahead."

As he followed Loki out of the store, Thor could not suppress a grin despite great effort.

_That's my little brother,_ he thought, with more than a little bit of pride.


End file.
